Insurance.. from a different angle..

aaronjb · January 29, 2004, 11:30

As a few people on here work for themselves - what's the score on getting insurance when you're self employed? It's hard enough getting insurance now when I'm employed (for under a grand anyway!), if I need to add business travel to the insurance I can see most places refusing me..

Anyone got any tips? Or does anyone know any good places that do 'company policies' (cover any car owned by the company)? If that works out cost effective, I could transfer ownership of my car to the company (and then get a kick in the nuts on the tax front, but.. might be easier).

Any advice?

Ta,
Aaron

Slacey · January 29, 2004, 11:44

My car & bike are both covered for business, and it only added a few quid to both policies. Maybe it's because I'm old s:(

s:(

Anonymous · January 29, 2004, 11:51

Privilege.

aaronjb · January 29, 2004, 12:03

Quote from: "WoodenDummy"Privilege.

I tried their online thingy and got a really bad quote.. (I wasn't ignoring your suggestion WD, honest s;)

s;) )..

Their phoneline, however, came out better at £1037.40.. Thanks for that one, a touch more expensive than Bell, but the business travel is FOC unlike Bell..

Ta,
Aaron

aaronjb · January 29, 2004, 12:05

Quote from: "Slacey"Maybe it's because I'm old s:( s:(

That and you don't live in 'Crime City' (known as Slough to it's friends).. s:(

s:(

Must... move.... house...

GSB · January 29, 2004, 12:42

Quote from: "aaronjb"
Quote from: "Slacey"Maybe it's because I'm old s:( s:(

That and you don't live in 'Crime City' (known as Slough to it's friends).. s:( s:(

Must... move.... house...

Didnt the residents of Windsor recent lobby to have the "SL" (Slough) prefix of their postcodes changed becsue they didn't like their town ascociated with Slough?

aaronjb · January 29, 2004, 13:13

It wouldn't surprise me - and I wouldn't blame them either.. I'm sure a recoding would drop their house and car insurance quite a bit..

I heard the same story about an area of Swansea too.

Anonymous · January 29, 2004, 13:26

Quote from: "aaronjb"
Quote from: "WoodenDummy"Privilege.

I tried their online thingy and got a really bad quote.. (I wasn't ignoring your suggestion WD, honest s;) s;) )..

Their phoneline, however, came out better at £1037.40.. Thanks for that one, a touch more expensive than Bell, but the business travel is FOC unlike Bell..

Ta,
Aaron

Really? I'll have to give them a call.

Anonymous · January 29, 2004, 14:54

We use More Than (Internet based version of Royal Sun Alliance). Maybe it's just because we are old (40+) and have full no claims but we have business cover at a reasonable addition (about 45 quid I think). I recently swapped my Subaru Impreza over to them as well as the '2.
I won't upset you younger people by telling you what the premium is.

Anonymous · January 30, 2004, 18:37

Hot Triathlete

Check your cover with "More Than" VERY carefully. Their standard internet policy doesn't even give cover for commuting, never mind business use.

s:D

s:D s:D

s:D

Anonymous · January 30, 2004, 20:06

Quote from: "aaronjb"if I need to add business travel to the insurance I can see most places refusing me..

Aaron,

TBH I'd be really surprised if any of the main insurers refused you cover. If your policy is in your own name and it's only you that needs to drive for business purposes then you need Class 1 cover. Typically this results in something like a 10% load on your premium but a number of companies include it as standard and 99% of them offer it. You might also have to pay a little bit more if your annual mileage is excessive (say over 20k) but again with most companies the load for this would be negligible (if at all...)

You're right to make sure you've got the right level of cover but I don't think you'll have any problems in getting it. The fact that you're self-employed won't really have a bearing - just the fact that you're travelling to different places of work.

HTH

Ray

Anonymous · January 30, 2004, 20:29

Quote from: "Roger H"Hot Triathlete

Check your cover with "More Than" VERY carefully. Their standard internet policy doesn't even give cover for commuting, never mind business use.

s:D s:D s:D s:D s:D s:D

I looked at my More Than policy and it clearly states "social, domestic & pleasure purposes including personal business use for all named drivers"

This is class 1 cover and I understand that it covers commuting, as it's part of business use.......... commuting to work that is.

Gordon

aaronjb · January 30, 2004, 23:09

Quote from: "R2MUL"TBH I'd be really surprised if any of the main insurers refused you cover. If your policy is in your own name and it's only you that needs to drive for business purposes then you need Class 1 cover. Typically this results in something like a 10% load on your premium but a number of companies include it as standard and 99% of them offer it. You might also have to pay a little bit more if your annual mileage is excessive (say over 20k) but again with most companies the load for this would be negligible (if at all...)

The mileage won't be excessive, shouldn't be more than 12k p/a really (I used to do much less than that in fact, it's only more now because the other half is so far away, which should be changing in 6 weeks or so.. woohoo! ahem, anyway). You're right, too, it's only been the brokers who have refused business cover.. Well, to put it another way;

The only broker who offered a reasonable price (under a grand) were Adrian Flux, and they couldn't do Class 1 business use through that underwriter s:(

s:(
Most of the rest of the small brokers have been well over a grand - in fact two were £1400 (and one of those was Dorset with their 'MR2DC Policy'!).

Out of the high street vendors, only one came out with a really good price including covering mods, and that was Bell Direct (£930 after I told them Fluxes price of £950!), so I imagine I'll end up sticking with them. Their claims procedure is meant to be dire, but for the sake of £500 and a much lower excess, I'll live with it s;)

s;)

Quote from: "R2MUL"You're right to make sure you've got the right level of cover but I don't think you'll have any problems in getting it. The fact that you're self-employed won't really have a bearing - just the fact that you're travelling to different places of work.

I'm glad you cleared that up too Ray - thankyou. I did wonder if I'd need Class 2 ('Business Selling' I think that's called?) as I'll be a consultant/contractor, but if Class 1 will suffice then that makes things an awful lot easier.

I may still look at the option of fleet cover in the future, as it might be a cost effective way of getting both cars covered under one umberella policy (one is heavily modified, so maybe not!), but for now it looks like Bell Direct have come out on top yet again - 4th year running now!

Thanks again for the advice Ray (and everyone else! s:)

s:) )

Aaron

Anonymous · January 31, 2004, 08:04

No worries Aaron mate.

My other half is the Marketing Manager for Admiral who also own Bell Direct, Elephant and Diamond Insurance (for women) so she'll be pleased that they've come up trumps for you s:)

s:)

Elephant were the cheapest by some distance for us (even before staff discount). But it certainly makes sense to spend a morning shopping around.

Feel free to drop me a line if you need any more on it.

Ray